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New & Notable Book Reviews

December 12, 2012

I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Or even if I am able to review the book, it’s always good to get a second opinion. So here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks:

Keep the Faith by Martin Ayers

Reviewed by Tony Payne. “And this is where Martin Ayers’s new book Keep the Faith is so useful. It’s not your normal book about faith and doubt. It does not explain any doctrines or issues that might baffle us or cause us to doubt; it provides no compelling evidence for the key claims of Christianity (for that, you might turn to Martin’s excellent first book, Naked God); and it does not even deal with some of the indirect causes of doubt (such as starting to dabble with immorality, or experiencing deep suffering).” (Learn more and shop at Amazon or Matthias Media)

Lifted by Sam Allberry

Reviewed by Camden Bucey. “Lifted is a book that demonstrates how Christians possess a distinct hope for the future. But it’s a unique type of hope for the Christian; it’s a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). The future is pinned upon the resurrected Christ. If Christ has not been raised, then there is no hope for the Christian. But the glorious truth is that Christ has already been raised, and the salvation of his people is secure.” (Learn more and shop at Amazon or Westminster Books)

The Life of God in the Soul of the Church by Thabiti Anyabwile

Reviewed by Aaron Armstrong. “…an under-developed ecclesiology is a ministry killer. It’s all well and good to say that you love the Church and want to serve her, but if you don’t know what the Church is according to Scripture—and this applies especially to those serving as leaders—you’re setting yourself up to fail. Anyabwile’s corrective to this is among the strongest I’ve read. While distinguishing between them, he refuses to separate the ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ aspects of spiritual fellowship. You can’t actually build a functional ecclesiology without the two together.” (Learn more and shop at Amazon or Westminster Books)

The Fruitful Wife by Hayley DiMarco

Reviewed by Staci Eastin. “All in all, this is a good book. It’s a much needed corrective against the poor theology in books like Debi Pearl’s Created to be His Help Meet. Books on marriage tend to over-promise more than any other category. Hayley wisely keeps the focus on glorying God through your marriage, rather than appropriating biblical teaching in hopes of “fixing” your husband. Most women will find it helpful, but I wouldn’t recommend it to a woman whose marriage is in serious trouble unless she was also seeking outside counsel.” (Learn more and shop at Amazon or Westminster Books)

When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson

Reviewed by John Piper. “Here’s a caution. [Robinson’s] fiction is more easily understood than her nonfiction. She admits, ‘My style is considerably more indebted to Cicero than to Hemingway’ (87). That means her sentences sound like translations of good Latin. In other words, she writes non-fiction like John Owen.” (Learn more and shop at Amazon)

About Tim Challies

I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, and am a co-founder of Cruciform Press.